AT A GLANCE
Why go?
Stendorfer See is a gently elongated lake of around 55 hectares set in the rolling ice-age moraine hills of Holstein Switzerland, just west of the village of Kasseedorf in East Holstein, Germany. Owned by the centuries-old Gut Stendorf estate, it is one of the few privately held lakes over 50 hectares in Schleswig-Holstein. The Schwentine river passes through it from east to west, and the lake is popular with anglers targeting pike, tench, carp, eel and rudd.↗↗↗
The lake and its surroundings reward unhurried walkers: a well-marked circular route from Kasseedorf covers roughly nine kilometres of lakeside paths, estate grounds, mixed forest and river meadows in about two and a half hours. The municipality promotes the lake as a spot for swimming and relaxation amid natural scenery.↗↗
A Lake in Holstein Switzerland's Moraine Hills
Stendorfer See sits at about 32.5 metres above sea level in the heart of the Holstein Switzerland nature park, an undulating landscape sculpted by the last ice age. At 1.5 kilometres long and up to 700 metres wide, the lake holds a modest maximum depth of around 8 metres, making it a shallow, warm-water lake well suited to the recreational fishing for which it is known. The Schwentine, the long river that rises at the nearby Bungsberg hill and eventually reaches the Kiel Fjord, flows through the lake from east to west. The Kolksee and the Oberteich, both to the southwest, drain into Stendorfer See as well.
